How to choose keywords
How to choose keywords in a Google Ad Grant
What is a keyword?
In an Ad Grant, the only type of campaign you can create is a Search campaign. Those use short words and phrases as their way of targeting people to see your ads. You choose words that you think people will be searching for, and if Google judges that your keyword matches their search words, your ad can be shown.
Google Ad Grant rules about keywords
Ad Grant accounts have to follow additional rules, which can be found in the mission-based campaigns policy, see support.google.com/grants/answer/4410314.
- Don't use single-word keywords: But there are a few exemptions, for example you are allowed to use your own brand words, and recognized medical conditions. There is a short list of exempted one-word keywords but I wouldn't recommend using most of them; in particular: charity, donate, NGO, nonprofit are uselessly generic keywords. However, I've seen good results from a few of them: homelessness, adoption, trafficking.
- Don't use generic keywords: For example “best videos”, "cool apps", “e-books”, “today's news”, “easy yoga”, “download games”, "things to do", “job alert”. This is a common mistake that grantees make, so be specific, not generic.
- Choose keywords relevant to your nonprofit’s mission, services or activities: Ask yourself whether the person searching for the words is actively looking for what your specific nonprofit offers.
- Keyword quality scores must not fall below 3/10: When you first choose keywords they don't have a Quality score yet, so this is something to monitor over time. Very low QS keywords will get automatically paused. Read this lesson about managing keyword quality scores.
- Don't use keywords for competitors' brands: I can't find this rule written down in the policies any more, but believe it to still be in place. Even if you were allowed to do it, don't: bidding on competitor terms is expensive and low CTR and risks starting an argument and getting publicly called out if you're spotted doing it, as it's considered an underhand tactic!
A good keyword is
- High search volume: The more people searching for that keyword, the more potential there is for people to see your ad. Too niche and you won't get Impressions.
If you are using Google's keyword tools, be aware that estimated search volumes aren't accurate for grant accounts and could be much lower. - Low competition: Because free ads are placed below paid ads, too much competition makes it less likely your ad will be shown or clicked, leading to low impressions and low CTR and high cost per click. Try to find a balance between high search volume and low competition.
Competition can be especially problematic in certain sub-sectors such as humanitarian aid, financial advice, theatres, churches etc. If your competitors also have paid Google Ads accounts, some keywords might be near-impossible to get traction for.
There is no straightforward way to judge the level of competition from grant or paid accounts for a specific keyword, so you'll need to rely on your own knowledge. - Relevant to the landing page: When people click on an ad they expect to arrive on a page with information relevant to their search. But if the keyword, the ad and content are only loosely related, users will be unlikely to convert. This can signal to Google that your page isn’t relevant, making your ad less likely to be shown in future.
How to choose keywords
Within each ad group you should create one Responsive Search Ad plus a tightly-themed group of keywords; to start with 10-15 keywords should suffice. A brand ad group might only need one keyword for your brand name, with broad, phrase and exact variants.
Ask yourself which keywords—combinations of words and phrases—someone might likely type into the Google search box to find the types of services or information that your organisation offers.
Consider what's called the Search intent: what is someone most likely to be searching for when they type specific words into Google? What information might they be seeking? What action do they intend to take? Match your keywords to their intent.
What keyword match type should you use?
When you choose keywords, you must decide which match type to use. Keyword match types dictate how closely the keyword needs to match with the user’s search query for it to trigger an ad to be shown.
By using an appropriate mix of keyword types for your campaigns, you give yourself the best odds of triggering relevant ads.
The way match types work has changed a lot over the years, to the point where they are much looser than they used to be, and it can be difficult to predict when they might or might not trigger an ad to be shown.
Google has stealthily removed precise control, and pushed users towards a broad-match only strategy... don't entirely trust Google when it tells you broad is best.
Broad match
If you add a keyword without any formatting, it's a broad match keyword.
Syntax: homeless shelter
Will match with related words, misspellings, synonyms, close variations.
Examples of search phrases that could be triggered by ads using broad match keywords:
- homeless charity
- homeless shelter
- shelter
- St Mungo's
- animal shelter (!)
By all means use broad match for most keywords to start with, but keep a close eye on performance and check the Search terms report to see if they’re triggering irrelevant searches. You are more likely to need to add negative keywords if you mainly use broad keywords.
These days Google recommends you use only broad match keywords, especially when your campaign uses smart bidding. To understand Google's reasoning read support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10195720. Experienced advertisers might disagree and argue that broad match might give you the most Impressions, but phrase and exact match bring in the most relevant and useful traffic that gets higher CTR and converts more often; they might also point out that the combination of broad match plus smart bidding can work very well if the budget's high enough (but unfortunately Grants have limited budgets).
Phrase match
Syntax: “homeless charity”
Will match an similar phrase, including with extra words before or after, and with words switched for synonyms and phrases with similar meaning.
Examples of search phrases that could be triggered using phrase match keywords:
- local homeless charity
- homeless nonprofit
- Shelter (the name of a homelessness charity)
- homeless charity Canada
Phrase match has changed over the last few years. It now works more like Broad match used to.
Test out this match type with your most important and highest impression keywords. To start with use both phrase match and broad match versions of your most important keywords, and compare their results.
Exact match
Syntax: [homeless charity]
The words must be entered exactly as is to trigger the ads... except, not so much any more. Expect synonyms and similar words to be swapped in. Don't use this for long phrases unless they are commonly searched for. Use it for your brand and key terms. Use it in conjunction with phrase and broad match.
Examples of search phrases that might trigger ads using exact match keywords:
- homelessness charity
- homeless NGO
- homeless charitable
Exact match has changed over the years. It is no longer precise. It now works like Phrase Match used to.
Below is the example that Google uses to explain how keyword match types work.
Tools for choosing keywords
Personally I don't use Google's keyword tools, and almost never look at Google's keyword suggestions when writing ads, and ignore recommendations to add lists of keywords. It's better to use your own subject knowledge, data, best guesses, and common sense, and to put yourselves in the mindset of the person searching Google for what your nonprofit offers, than to simply accept Google's suggestions.
When creating ads
When you create a new ad group you're immediately prompted to enter a landing page url and given a list of keywords suggestions. In my experience they often include poor choices, so I tend to skip this step... but you might want to review the list and pick and choose the ones that seem relevant to you. Just don't uncritically accept all the suggestions.
The keyword planner tool
Google’s Keyword Planner tool is useful for researching new keyword ideas, especially when getting started on a new campaign. It's in Tools > Planning > Keyword Planner. You can start with a specific keyword to find others, or scan the entire website for suggestions. I find it helpful to use grouped view to group together keywords on specific sub-topics: this can help you figure out an ad group structure.
Be aware that its estimated search volumes are not accurate for Ad Grant accounts: divide whatever number it shows by at least ten and don't trust the forecasts. Don't assume the CPC estimates are accurate either. Whilst there is a column for Competition, it may or may not be relevant to grant accounts... but at this stage it's the only indication you have!
You can select groups of keywords or individual keywords and add them to your keyword plan the refer back to it later or download it as a spreadsheet.
Google Search Console
Get a free Search Console account at search.google.com/search-console and use it to monitor how well Google is indexing and ranking your website content over time.
It's especially useful for advertisers because you can see a list of phrases that people searched in Google to find web pages. These are likely to be good choices for keywords in Google Ads. You can see how many times they were searched for, and how high the page was listed in the search results.
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